Glogs are blog/posters. (To see a sample, click A_WikiMap to the right.) Glogs are NOT pre-screened, students browsing on Glogster.com may encounter undesirable material. Glogster education (edu.glogster.com) allows teachers to request up to 100 account numbers for teachers to use with students. Glogster has recently released a Premium (paid) version with additional features but they will continue to support the free version. The user name and password are assigned by Glogster. More than one student can be using a given username/password at the same time. Teachers can delete glogs by logging in as that user.
Glogs can be embedded into wikis. There are some tricks to embedding-there are several places to get your embed code and they seem to have different results regarding size. If your glog requires scrolling to see the entire page you may want to edit the size. This requires editing the HTML code for the embed--but FEAR NOT! Look at the code for 100%- change that to 65% (or some other size), be careful to only change the numbers, not the spacing or other symbols. Now, look at the height and width numbers--do some simple math or use a calculator and change these numbers to 65% of the original number. Done!
Here's a link to a wiki that features student reports done on Glogster-
Glogs can be multimedia--students can create and upload video clips - try creating one on Animoto, then embedding it into your glog. This glogster was created by a group of second graders.
Create animated videos quickly and simply. Animated figures "speak" (in typical robotic computer generated voices) what ever is typed into the frame. Gestures can be added and camera angles can be changed. If you upgrade to the premium you'll have more scenes and characters to choose from and the next update will include the ability to record your own voice. Warning: This site is fairly new and still finding their way in the education market. The site forum promises changes coming soon which should include $29.99 annual edu pricing and hopefully an edu. minisite. Until that occurs keep a close eye on your students, make it clear that only appropriate videos will be added to the class wiki, and do not allow them to browse the public videos. For more examples of Xtranormal videos, click the Xtranormal page link on the right.
Create your free account education account at Animoto and you will soon be creating impressive videos, complete with music-and all copyright safe! Upload photos or slides you've created and saved as .jpeg files (in PowerPoint or Pixie2); decide what order you want them in and whether you want any "spotlighted"; then add music from the extensive collection on Animoto (or even upload your own); and let Animoto put it all together. Have your students create videos evoking the theme of a book, promoting an environmental message, or create a class video with pictures from your field trip. Look at the list of features here.
From the Disney people, this is a multifaceted creative site, perfect for elementary through middle school students. Teachers can register for a free account, enter a list of your students (First names only!), Kerpoof will generate log-in information on slips you can print out and distribute. You have the choice to turn on chat or not. Teachers have access to a chat log and can monitor chat. This may be a good opportunity for students to learn chat etiquette and you can ask them questions about their work or engage them in discussions. Students can create cards, book, animated video, and drawings. Studying habitats? Have your students Create a Picture of their habitat. Or use the Book feature and write about the habitat. Here's a link to the beginning of a fractured fairy tale. Kerpoof teacher pages include a variety of lesson plans using Kerpoof. Unfortunately, projects are saved only on Kerpoof, they cannot be saved to your computer. You can print and, if your students create animated videos, you can provide the link to parents. Projects can be emailed from Kerpoof, but only if they do not contain text. Projects can be saved as public or private, public projects can be viewed by other users without knowing the link, all projects are vetted by Kerpoof before they go public.
Wordle allows you to enter (you can paste or type) text which it will analyse for word frequency and create a word cloud where size of the word is directly proportional to the number of times it occurs. Wordle will treat phrases as separate words so insert a tilde (~) between any words you want to keep together. Paste a famous speech into Wordle and see immediately which words were used most often. Paste an essay and look at the results, are the biggest words what you would expect given the topic or have you gone off on a tangent? Enter a list of first names from a grade level, which names occur most often? Enter the character traits of a book character, typing the most important traits more often. What ideas can you come up with?
Wordsift Similar to Wordle, Wordsift creates word clouds from text you insert. Wordsift's clouds are less visually appealling but they offer additional features. Words can be sorted alphabetically or reverse; or by common to uncommon (and reverse). The common to uncommon refers to their use in English, not their use in the word cloud. Each word is clickable and creates a list of links for the word and a Visual Thesaurus entry.
Glogster
Glogs are blog/posters. (To see a sample, click A_WikiMap to the right.) Glogs are NOT pre-screened, students browsing on Glogster.com may encounter undesirable material. Glogster education (edu.glogster.com) allows teachers to request up to 100 account numbers for teachers to use with students. Glogster has recently released a Premium (paid) version with additional features but they will continue to support the free version. The user name and password are assigned by Glogster. More than one student can be using a given username/password at the same time. Teachers can delete glogs by logging in as that user.Glogs can be embedded into wikis. There are some tricks to embedding-there are several places to get your embed code and they seem to have different results regarding size. If your glog requires scrolling to see the entire page you may want to edit the size. This requires editing the HTML code for the embed--but FEAR NOT! Look at the code for 100%- change that to 65% (or some other size), be careful to only change the numbers, not the spacing or other symbols. Now, look at the height and width numbers--do some simple math or use a calculator and change these numbers to 65% of the original number. Done!
Here's a link to a wiki that features student reports done on Glogster-
Glogs can be multimedia--students can create and upload video clips - try creating one on Animoto, then embedding it into your glog. This glogster was created by a group of second graders.
Xtranormal
Create animated videos quickly and simply. Animated figures "speak" (in typical robotic computer generated voices) what ever is typed into the frame. Gestures can be added and camera angles can be changed. If you upgrade to the premium you'll have more scenes and characters to choose from and the next update will include the ability to record your own voice. Warning: This site is fairly new and still finding their way in the education market. The site forum promises changes coming soon which should include $29.99 annual edu pricing and hopefully an edu. minisite. Until that occurs keep a close eye on your students, make it clear that only appropriate videos will be added to the class wiki, and do not allow them to browse the public videos. For more examples of Xtranormal videos, click the Xtranormal page link on the right.Animoto
Create your free account education account at Animoto and you will soon be creating impressive videos, complete with music-and all copyright safe! Upload photos or slides you've created and saved as .jpeg files (in PowerPoint or Pixie2); decide what order you want them in and whether you want any "spotlighted"; then add music from the extensive collection on Animoto (or even upload your own); and let Animoto put it all together. Have your students create videos evoking the theme of a book, promoting an environmental message, or create a class video with pictures from your field trip. Look at the list of features here.Kerpoof
From the Disney people, this is a multifaceted creative site, perfect for elementary through middle school students. Teachers can register for a free account, enter a list of your students (First names only!), Kerpoof will generate log-in information on slips you can print out and distribute. You have the choice to turn on chat or not. Teachers have access to a chat log and can monitor chat. This may be a good opportunity for students to learn chat etiquette and you can ask them questions about their work or engage them in discussions. Students can create cards, book, animated video, and drawings. Studying habitats? Have your students Create a Picture of their habitat. Or use the Book feature and write about the habitat. Here's a link to the beginning of a fractured fairy tale. Kerpoof teacher pages include a variety of lesson plans using Kerpoof. Unfortunately, projects are saved only on Kerpoof, they cannot be saved to your computer. You can print and, if your students create animated videos, you can provide the link to parents. Projects can be emailed from Kerpoof, but only if they do not contain text. Projects can be saved as public or private, public projects can be viewed by other users without knowing the link, all projects are vetted by Kerpoof before they go public.Wordle
Wordle allows you to enter (you can paste or type) text which it will analyse for word frequency and create a word cloud where size of the word is directly proportional to the number of times it occurs. Wordle will treat phrases as separate words so insert a tilde (~) between any words you want to keep together. Paste a famous speech into Wordle and see immediately which words were used most often. Paste an essay and look at the results, are the biggest words what you would expect given the topic or have you gone off on a tangent? Enter a list of first names from a grade level, which names occur most often? Enter the character traits of a book character, typing the most important traits more often. What ideas can you come up with?Wordsift Similar to Wordle, Wordsift creates word clouds from text you insert. Wordsift's clouds are less visually appealling but they offer additional features. Words can be sorted alphabetically or reverse; or by common to uncommon (and reverse). The common to uncommon refers to their use in English, not their use in the word cloud. Each word is clickable and creates a list of links for the word and a Visual Thesaurus entry.